String stretching and tuning device



(No Model.)

A. FELLDIN. STRING STRETGHING AND TUNING DEVIGE.

No. 408,602. Patented Aug. 6, 1889.

N. PETER5, Pnnlvulho m hur, Washmgkm. D.C

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ABRAHAM FELLDIN, OF AUBURN, NET V YORK.

STRING STRETCHING AND TUNING DEVICE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 408,602, dated August 6, 1889.

Application filed May 28, 1888 Serial No. 275,276. (No model.)

of New York, have invented a new and use ful Improvement in String Stretching and Tuning Devices, of which the following is a specification.

Myinvention furnishes an improved device for stretching and tuning strings, principally piano-strings, whereby the ordinary tuningpins, which resist the tension of the strings by friction only and therefore are liable to slip and cause the strings to slacken, are entirely dispensed with, the labor of inserting the strings in the agraffes and of stringing and tuning pianos is greatly facilitated, the liability to slip is completely obviated, and the needed exertion of strength on behalf of the tuning-operator is reduced to a minimum.

The invention will be hereinafter fully described and specifically claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 represents a front view of my improved string-tuning device in position, six of the same being shown holding six successive strings and adapted for an upright or grand piano. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same, seen in the direction of arrow 1. Figs. 8 and at are side elevations of modifications of the device. Fig. 5 is a detail cross-section on the line a: a; of Fig. 4, looking downward Fig. 6 is a side elevation showing a modification of the agraffc and string-bridge. Fig. 7 is a cross-section on the line 1/ y of Fig. 0, seen in direction of arrow 2.

A is the string-frame.

B are the strings fastened to the frame, as at Z), as usual, and thence passed over to rest upon first the lower bridge Z) and then upon the upper bridge D to keep it from contact with the frame.

C is the agraffe. It is slotted vertically, as at c, and notches or undercuts its vertical edges transversely at an upward inclination, thus forming grooves or notches c, in. which the strings deflected from the bridge D securely lodge. The bridge D maybe cast on the frame A, and the agraffes, one for each note, and made, as in Figs. 6 and 7, for a three-string instrument, screwed into the frameA behind the bridge D; but a cheaper mode, and one which always insures the relative positions of the agraffes and bridge,is to form them in one piece of metal (see Figs. 1 to 4) by casting them as parallel ribs upon a continuous fiat bar G, which is then secured to the frame A by screws g. The rib for the agraffe C is provided at proper intervals of space with the aforesaid vertical slots 0', with undercut edges forming the aforesaid grooves or notches c at one or both sides of each slot, in which notches the strings lodge, being introduced through the said slots 0, as seen in Figs. 1 and 7.

Instead of tuning-pins, which are liable to slip, as before stated, I provide a stretching device, which I will here call a suspender, and which consists of a bracket-shaped piece D, (see Figs. 1 to 4,) having an arm (1 at about a right angle to the body, and a perforated enlargement or hub cl upon the said arm for receiving a threaded rod or wire or adjustingscrew E, by which the string is stretched to the proper tension and tone. The lower part of the suspender D has a knee or leg ending with a toe (1 by which it rests upon the frame A, and which has a groove for the string to rest in, and a hole through which the string is inserted and fastened in a usual manner by simply bending its extreme end back upon itself, as atb thus making it too thick for slipping through the hole. lipon the frame A is formed or cast a flange, rib, or shoulder 0, upon which each screw E butts or is supported, either b its end directly, as in Figs. 2 and at, or by a shoulder 6, formed on its shank, as in Fig. 3. In the latter case the flange a is perforated to receive freely the shank of the screw E, although for the purpose of giving increased steadiness a flange a may be so perforated to receive the screwshank, even when the point or end of the latter bears directly on the flange a, as seen in Fig. at. As to the adjusting or tuning screw, its threads work in corresponding threads, either in the hub d of the suspender D, as in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, or in a separate hub or nut F, which fits in line with the hole in the hub d, and is provided in its side with a slot or groove f, by which it grips or embraces an adjacent edge of the suspender D and is thus kept from turning. To accommodate space for the hubs (1' when the suspenders D are placed closely together side by side, as in Fi 1, alternate suspenders are shorter than the others, so that their hubs do not come in the same row, but the hubs of the shorter suspenders are covered by the bodies of the larger, and the hubs of these latter are covered by the screws E of the shorter suspenders, as shown in Fig. 1; hence two flanges or shoulders a at different elevations are used, when the suspenders are supported on them by the points of the screws E, as in Figs. 1, 2, and i. It is evident that by these suspenders no slack of the strings can possibly occur by slipping, as is frequently the case when ordinary tuning-pins are used.

Ilavin g thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure byLettors Patent- 1. The combination, in a string stretching and tuning device, of a string-frame, as A, having the string-holding studs 0, bridges Z) D, agrafl'e C, and shoulder or shoulders to, for the stretching-screws, the suspender-yokes and stretching-screws, said yokes bridging said shoulders and having toes of the string ends hearing at one side of the shoulders on the surface of the string-frame, and heads for the adjusting-screws on the other side of the shoulders and in line with the surface of the string-frame or thereabout, substantially as described.

2. The combination, in a string-stretching device, of a string -frame, as A, having the string-holding studs 1), bridges b D, agraflfe C, and upper and lower shoulders a, for the stretching-screws, the suspender-yokes and stretching-screws, said yokes bridging said shoulders and having toes of the string ends bearing at one side of the shoulders on the surface of the string-frame, and heads for the adjusting-screws on the other side of the shoulders gaged for the bearing of the adj usting-screws on the upper and lower shoulders alternately, substantially as described.

3. The combination of an agraite O,having vertical slots 0', provided with side notches c, with a bridge D, said bridge and agrafio being both rigid upon a common bar G, socurable to the string-frame.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have signed my name, in presence of two witnesses, this 23d day of May, 1888.

ABRAHAM FELLDIN. Witnesses:

A. O. ELLIsoN, J. ROSECRANS. 

